Time short for state health plan

ATLANTA — Experts say Georgia is running out of time to implement its own health insurance marketplace.

States have until Nov. 16 to say whether they will build their own health insurance exchanges or leave it to the federal government under the new health care law.

Gov. Nathan Deal and other Republican governors have delayed major decisions about the law in hopes it will be repealed if Mitt Romney wins presidential election.

While Deal has yet to announce a decision, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (http://bit.ly/S2JKYQ) reports that experts say the state lacks the time to build its private marketplace and have it running by the Jan. 1, 2014 deadline.

William Custer, a health care expert at Georgia State University, says other states also are behind in planning to operate the so-called insurance exchanges.